Composite belts are used in a variety of applications. The food service industry has made use of composite belts to prepare food, including passing food through a heated oven for warming or cooking. The temperature of the oven and the speed of the belt can be selected such that the food can be placed on one end of the belt, passed through the oven, and heated to the appropriate temperature upon leaving the oven. However, components of the composite belt and the oven may degrade during exposure to high heat and continuous motion, resulting in an increasing risk of contamination of food as it passes through the oven. There remains a need for composite belts which have improved performance in such applications.